Apparatus for sectionizing citrus fruit

ABSTRACT

It is old to sectionize a single peeled citrus fruit by a procedure wherein the fruit is penetrated by a set of tines of a fruit holder for rotating the fruit step by step in synchronism with associated reciprocating sectionizing tool means. The sectionizing tool means comprises a pair of tools that straddle the radial membranes of the fruit in succession for successive severance of the fruit sections, severance being accomplished largely by concentrated jets of water directed radially from the tools along opposite sides of the membranes. Indexing the rotation of the peeled fruit with respect to the successive radial membranes is accomplished by inserting the tip of one of the pair of tools into the rotating fruit and terminating the rotation in response to impingement of a radial membrane against the tool. The present invention is an apparatus for processing batches of peeled fruit in this general manner in rapid succession for a high rate of production. While one batch is being sectionized on a plurality of fruit holders, fruit of a new batch are being manually impaled on upright spikes of a corresponding plurality of fruit holders. After a batch sectionizing operation, the downwardly extending sets of tines of the plurality of fruit holders are aligned axially with the corresponding loading spikes and the new batch is transferred to the tines of the fruit holders. The fruit holders are then shifted to positions adjacent corresponding reciprocative sectionizing tools and corresponding cup members are moved into position to support the fruit from below during the batch sectionizing operation. All of the sectionizing tools are fixedly but adjustably mounted on a vertical reciprocative frame for simultaneous sectionizing strokes and synchronization of the rotation of the fruit with the operation of the sectionizing tools is accomplished by employing cam means on the vertically reciprocative frame to actuate the fruit holders. Indexing of the rotating fruit relative to the successive radial membranes of the fruit is accomplished by providing individual clutches for the fruit holders and disengaging each clutch in response to impingement of a radial membrane of the corresponding rotating fruit against the corresponding partially inserted fruit sectionizing tool.

United States Patent [1 1 Shrewsbury et al.

[ Aug. 21,1973

[ APPARATUS FOR SECTIONIZING CITRUS FRUIT [73] Assignee: Brown International Corporation,

Covina, Calif.

[22] Filed: Nov. 27, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 93,022

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 697,215, Jan. 11, 1968, Pat. No.

Primary Examiner-Willie G. Abercrombie Attorney-Paul A. Weilen [57] ABSTRACT It is old to sectionize a single peeled citrus fruit by a procedure wherein the fruit is penetrated by a set of tines of a fruit holder for rotating the fruit step by step in synchronism with associated reciprocating sectionizing tool means. The sectionizing tool means comprises a pair of tools that straddle the radial membranes of the fruit in succession for successive severance of the fruit sections, severance being accomplished largely by concentrated jets of water directed radially from the tools along opposite sides of the membranes. Indexing the rotation of the peeled fruit with respect to the successive radial membranes is accomplished by inserting the tip of one of the pair of tools into the rotating fruit and terminating the rotation in response to impingement of a radial membrane against the tool.

The present invention is an apparatus for processing batches-of peeled fruit in this general manner in rapid succession for a high rate of production. While one batch is being sectionized on a plurality of fruit holders, fruit of a new batch are being manually impaled on upright spikes of a corresponding plurality of fruit holders. After a batch sectionizing operation, the downwardly extending sets of tines of the plurality of fruit holders are aligned axially with the corresponding loading spikes and the new batch is transferred to the tines of the fruit holders. The fruit holders are then shifted to positions adjacent corresponding reciprocative sectionizing tools and corresponding cup members are moved into position to support the fruit from below during the batch sectionizing operation.

All of the sectionizing tools are fixedly but adjustably mounted on a vertical reciprocative frame for simultaneous sectionizing strokes and synchronization 17 Claims, 53 Drawing Figures United States Patent [191 k [m 3,753, 7 Shrewsbury et al. 7 [451 Aug. 21, 1973 Patented Aug. 21, 1973 17 Sheets-Sheet 5 s/memsau y INVENT ,4 Tram/6y 056.67 5. JOHN 0 W655 5&5

Patented Aug. 21, 1973 3,753,397

17 Sheets-Sheet 4.

Patented Aug. 21, 1973 17 Sheets-Sheet 5 kOa; I0 016? 5 306 O O O O O O .y w W E5 M W WW w W 2 0 w A 4% a a ap Patented Aug. 21, 1973 3,753,397

17 Sheets-Sheet 7 Patented Aug. 21, 1973 17 Sheets-Sheet 8 Patented Aug. 21, 1973 17 Sheets-Sheet l ATTOZA/fk 1 APPARATUS FOR SECTIONIZING CITRUS FRUIT CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a Division of my copending application, Ser. No. 697,215, filed Jan. 11, 1968, now US Pat. No. 3,566,940.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The three Shrewsbury US. Pat. Nos. 3,022,016, No. 3,030,995, and No. 3,081,805, which are hereby incorporated into the present disclosure by reference, teach how a single peeled citrus fruit may be sectionized by rotating the fruit by stages and straddling the radial membranes of the fruit in succession by a pair of reciprocative tools that employ radial outwardly directed jets of water to separate the fruit membranes from the fruit sections. The peeled citrus fruit is rotated by means of tines that extend into the fruit and the rotation of the fruit is indexed with respect to the radial membranes of the fruit by partially inserting one of the tools into the rotating fruit and then stopping the rotation in response to impingement of a radial membrane of the fruit against the partially inserted tool. The pair of tools is then reciprocated along the opposite sides of the fruit membrane to separate the membrane from the adjacent fruit sections and then the fruit is automatically rotated another step in preparation for severance of the next fruit section.

In the prior Shrewsbury apparatus, a single shaft carries rotary cams to cause intermittent rotation of the fruit and to cause synchronized reciprocation of the pair of sectionizing tools. Indexing the rotation of the fruit with respect to the radial membranes of the fruit is accomplished by employing a friction clutch to rotate the fruit with the clutch weak enough to slip when a radial membrane is encountered. Since the friction clutch continues to tight to rotate the fruit after a membrane is encountered, one need for improvement is to eliminate this inefficient aspect of the apparatus.

Since the fruit of different runs varies in texture from relative firmness to spongy softness, the torque delivered by the friction clutch must be variable over a relatively wide range. A high torque that is necessary for the sectionizing tool to searchfor a radial membrane of a firm fruit would simply cause the tool to break through a radial membrane of a weaker fruit without detecting the membrane. Unfortunately, it is difiicult to adjust the output torque of a friction clutch to meet the particular requirements of different runs of fruit. Such a clutch cannot be relied upon to maintain a given precise adjustment for a long run. A further need, therefore, is for a more sensitive and precisely adjustable means for sensing a radial membrane of a rotating fruit.

For maximum efficiency of the sectionizing operation it is requisite that the natural axis of the fruit coincide with the axis of rotation of the fruit-holding tines. The difficulty is that a citrus fruit is commonly of nonsymmetrical configuration with the radial dimension of the fruit from its natural axis varying around the circumference of the fruit. The need in this regard is for some expedient for axially centering a non-circular fruit on a rotary set of tines.

In the above-mentioned prior art, the fruit is largely free around its circumference during the sectionizing operation and when an unconfined fruit is partially sectionized it tends to sag and fall apart with consequent sectionizing inefficiency and loss of production. For

this reason a suitable expedient should be provided to keep the rotating fruit effectively captivated during the whole sectionizing operation and, in addition, some provision should be made to strip the fruit residual or rag" from the set of tines after the sectionizing operation.

A number of problems must be met in any attempt to construct an apparatus of this general character that is suitable for mass production on a commercial scale. In some prior art practices these problems have been approached by employing some type of arrangement for moving the fruit in succession through a prolonged processing zone, a number of different fruit being at various stages in the process at any given moment. Such an apparatus is necessarily far from compact and, in addition, is inherently complicated. Moreover, if any single mechanism in the chain of mechanisms becomes defective, production stops. The need is for more compact and simpler apparatus for mass production. The object of the present invention is to solve the various problems involved and to meet the above-mentioned needs for improvement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A plurality of fruit holders having sets of downwardly extending tines is mounted on a carriage that is movable horizontally between a forward loading position and a rearward operating position, the operating position being adjacent a vertically reciprocative frame carrying a corresponding plurality of fruit sectionizing tools. A corresponding plurality of upwardly extending loading spikes spaced below the forward loading position of the carriage is movable upwardly to transfer new fruit thereon to the tines of the fruit holders while the carriage is in its forward position. In addition, a corresponding plurality of cup members located below the rearward operating position of the carriage is movable upwardly to embrace and support the fruit during the mass sectionizing operation. The several fruit on the holders are automatically sectionized simultaneously in a short time period during which the operator places a new batch of fruit on the loading spikes. High production is possible because there are a sufficient number of the loading spikes for full utilization of the operators time during the sectionizing operation.

The loading spikes solve the problem of accurately positioning the fruit coaxially on the sets of tines of the rotary holders because the spikes are tapered and dimensioned to take advantage of the natural axial cavities of the fruit, the tapered leading ends cooperating with the natural axial cavities to guide the fruit into coaxial positions on the spikes. Subsequently, the loading spikes are placed in axial alignment with the corresponding fruit holders and are then moved axially to transfer the fruit to accurate coaxial positions on the fruit holder tines.

During each step in the sectionizing operation, all of the fruit holders are rotated simultaneously by means of individual clutches and each clutch is disengaged independently to terminate the rotation of the corresponding fruit in response to impingement of a radial membrane of the rotating fruit against the corresponding sectionizing tool. For this purpose the individual clutches are controlled by diaphragms in corresponding air chambers and suitably dimensioned vent ports of the air chambers are controlled in response to impingement of radial fruit membranes against the sec- 

1. In an apparatus of the character described, wherein a sectionizing tool means comprising two closely spaced tools reciprocates between a retracted position and an advanced position to straddle a radial membrane of a citrus fruit close to the opposite sides of the membrane to separate the membrane from the adjacent pulp sections, the improvement comprising: means to extend between the two tools as they are retracted from the fruit to dislodge any portions of the fruit that may be come wedged between the two tools.
 2. An improvement as set forth in claim 1 in which said dislodging means comprises a fixed member extending between the two tools.
 3. In an apparatus of the character described for sectionizing a citrus fruit having radial sections defined by radial membranes, wherein sectionizing tool means reciprocates to sever successive sections from the fruit and holding means for the fruit rotates step by step in synchronization with the reciprocation of the sectionizing tool means, the sectionizing tool means partially penetrating the fruit during each step of rotation of the holding means until the radial membrane of the rotating fruit contacts the sectionizing tool means whereupon the sectionizing tool means straddles the contacting membrane and makes a sectionizing stroke to free both sides of the membrane from the pulp of the fruit, the improvement comprising: said sectionizing tool means having blade means dimensioned to extend radially of the fruit beyond the circumference of the fruit to sever the natural string network that encases the fruit sections, the sectionizing tool means having a leading edge to serve as a probe to move through the pulp of the fruit towards a radial membrane in response to rotation of the fruit, said leading edge being of a thickness less than 0.016 inch and greater than 0.006 inch, said leading edge being curved with a radius of curvature less than 0.008 inch and greater than 0.003 inch.
 4. An improvement as set forth in claim 3 in which said radius of curvature is approximately 0.005 inch.
 5. An improvement as set forth in claim 3 in which said blade tapers in transverse cross sectional configuration from its trailing edge to its leading edge.
 6. An improvement as set forth in claim 3 in which said blade is of the cross sectional configuration of a truncated triangle.
 7. In an apparatus of the character described for sectionizing a citrus fruit having radial sections defined by radial membranes, wherein sectionizing tool means reciprocates to sever successive sections from the fruit and holding means for the fruit rotates step by step in synchroNization with the reciprocation of the sectionizing tool means, the sectionizing tool means partially penetrating the fruit during each step of rotation of the holding means until a radial membrane of the rotating fruit contacts the sectionizing tool means whereupon the sectionizing tool means straddles the contacted membrane and makes a sectionizing stroke to free both sides of the membrane from the pulp of the fruit, the improvement comprising: said sectionizing tool means having a leading edge to move through the pulp of the fruit towards a radial membrane in response to rotation of the fruit, said leading edge having a thickness less than 0.016 inch and greater than 0.006 inch, said leading edge being of curved cross section with a radius of curvature less than 0.008 inch and greater than 0.003 inch.
 8. In an apparatus of the character described for sectionizing a citrus fruit, the pulp of which is divided into sections by radial membranes, means to explore the pulp of the fruit to detect the location of a radial membrane of the fruit in preparation for an operation to separate the radial membrane from adjacent pulp, comprising the combination of: a probe to penetrate the pulp of the fruit, said probe having a leading edge of less than 0.016 inch width to make a path through the pulp under a driving force of relatively low magnitude, said leading edge being blunt to require a driving force of higher magnitude to rupture the radial membrane; and yielding means operatively connected to the probe and movable to apply a yielding force to the probe of less than said higher magnitude to drive the probe laterally through the pulp into contact with the radial membrane thereby to cause the probe to pause at the radial membrane with consequent yielding action by the yielding means, whereby said yielding action indicates the contact of the probe with the radial membrane.
 9. A combination as set forth in claim 8 which includes means responsive to said yielding action to interrupt the movement of the yielding driving means and to initiate said operation for separating the membrane from adjacent pulp.
 10. In an apparatus of the character described for sectionizing a citrus fruit, the pulp of which is divided into sections by radial membranes, means to explore the pulp of the fruit to detect the location of a radial membrane in preparation for an operation to separate the membrane from adjacent pulp, said means comprising the combination of: a probe; means to support the probe and to move the probe laterally through the pulp of the fruit towards a radial membrane, said probe having a leading edge sufficiently narrow to force a path through the pulp with relatively low resistance by the pulp, the leading edge of the probe being blunt to cause the radial membrane to offer relatively higher resistance to rupture by the probe, said support means being yieldable for yielding action of relatively low magnitude in response to the resistance of the pulp to the movement of the probe through the pulp and for yielding action of greater magnitude in response to encounter of the probe with the radial membrane, whereby the yielding action of the greater magnitude indicates encounter of the probe with the radial membrane.
 11. A combination as set forth in claim 10 which includes means responsive to the yielding action of the greater magnitude to stop the travel of the support means and to carry out the membrane-separating operation.
 12. A combination as set forth in claim 10 in which the probe is of the general configuration of a blade with the plane of the blade in the direction of prgress of the probe.
 13. A combination as set forth in claim 12 in which the blade had the general cross sectional configuration of a truncated triangle.
 14. A combination as set forth in claim 10 in which the leading edge of the blade is rounded with a radius of curvature less than 0.008 inch and greAter than 0.003 inch.
 15. A combination as set forth in claim 14 in which the radius of curvature is approximately 0.005 inch.
 16. A combination as set forth in claim 10 in which said support means is a sectionizing tool to carry out the membrane-separating operation by an axial stroke of the sectionizing tool into the fruit. 17 A combination as set forth in claim 16 in which the cross sectional dimension of the probe in its direction of travel is approximately equal to the diameter of the sectionizing tool. 